tonight mitt romney will give the biggest speech of his career. politico calls it a make or break night. here's the "new york times" headline -- "defeat, interspekz, re-invention, nomination." last night romney put the bull in paul ryan's hands. energized the crowd with a speech about the issues, a personal appeal and a lot of attacks on the president. >> college graduates should not have the to the live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms staring up at fading obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life. >> if you're feeling left out or passed by, you have not failed. your leaders have failed you. >> let me bring in michael crowley, "time" magazines deputy washington bureau chief and charles blow. "new york times" columnist. good morning to you, gentlemen, and, charles, let me start with you because you write about paul

ryan and in your piece talk about how he started kind of gently. talked about his dad at one point i think movingly. talked about his mom and then he went on the attack. was it effective? >> i think it was. we'll have to see how effective it was for people out in the country. i think for people in the room it was incredibly effective. i think the orchestration of it was fantastic, to have the also rans be his lead-ins. to have them not be that great. the condi rice speech. martinez was effective. a lot of the people high on the list did not produce very effective speeches last night, in my opinion. but paul ryan then came after them and as a counterpoint to them showed what his strengths were. which is that he can deliver kind of a tough, math oriented policy oriented speech to people and have them receive it well. now, those people in the

building are different kind of people than people in america. the viewer dell at a convention, you are invested in a way americans are generally not. does that translate to actual changed minds and changed hearts in america? that's a very different question, and we don't know that yet. >> yeah. and michael, that is the key question. obviously, he was appealing to the base, but did he also maybe win over some of the center? >> well i think he probably did. i mean, what i was interested in about that speech last night is that, you know, ryan has bowled over conservatives with his appreciation for the writings of these, you know, famous conservative theorists and has these very conservative budgets. he's sort of an ideologue but didn't cast himself that way. didn't do the policy wonk thing for which he's famous. i think he really tried to present him as after every mannen from middle america, a small town from wisconsin, still lives on the same block.

introduced his very telegenic family. that was probably wise to the degree they are trying to target the center, trying to target undecided middle class voters. i think he did a surprisingly good job of presenting himself as an all-american, middle american, wisconsin guy, and the paul ryan that we have known in washington who is, you know, a reader of ayn rand and an hard core number budget geek, really didn't see that paul ryan. i was surprised and impressed at what a good speaker and politician he turned out to be and i think that will play well in the middle. >> no shortage of attacks, though, charles. i'm looking at some of the thing hess said. no answer to this simple reality. we need to stop spending money we don't have. obamacare comes to more than 2,000 pages of mandates and rules. you know, he went op and on in that vein. is that the traditional role sort of the vice president? is the attack dog? or what do you think the thing

that most of the center might take away from this? >> well -- well, first i think that the personal narrative part was the least effective part of his speech, to me, because he did not feel very comfortable, to me, in the beginning of that speech giving it. as he got into it, when he got to, for instance, it seemed he felt more comfortable, more policy oriented, he seemed to fill his stride a little bit more, and i think if he can do that part and be the attack dog, and as you say, perform that traditional role. i mean, what you don't want mitt romney to do is step to that stage tonight and be the most, you know, very negative. you want him to really say, here i am. i am the guy. you may like the guy in the white house now. but he hasn't done what you want him to do, and i can do that. and the part, the one part of ann romney's speech that i thought was -- i didn't think it was an incredibly good speech, but i think the one nart could

have been more effective, which is, i will not fail. that if you see barack obama as a failure, this, i will not fail in this job. these are the ways that i have not failed. this is how i have not failed in this part of my life and that part of my life and that part of my life, and he needs to take that off. not necessarily try to tug at the heartstrings so much but to say, i am effective. and if he can do that, then i think his speech becomes effective, and i think that paul ryan alleviates some of that burden if he can do more of the attacking and let mitt romney be more of the positive person tonight. >> all right, gentlemen. stay there. i want to bring in senator dick durbin, a democrat from illinois. you know, we're talking about a couple of different things here, senator. one obviously is presenting his personal story, but the other is, really, some of the attacks, and there have been fact checkers who have looked at it. for example, i think it was "the washington post" who found two true claim, six false ones,

three misleading ones and jeb bush was asked about this this morning on the "today" show. let me play that for you. >> i thought it was a very honest speech. paul ryan is in the reality wing of the republican party. the only guy in the last few years that has actually had subsequent plans to deal with structural problems is paul ryan. >> two questions, really. do you think is was an honest speech, and in the end, does that really matter? >> well, let me tell you, it was the biggest political speech of paul ryan's life and his career. it started off with a compelling personal story. about his mother, his father, his family. it was touching. and it was very genuine. there's no question about it. then he tried to transition into jamesville, wisconsin and the gmc plant closing. i can't imagine, sitting in the room when they presented that speech to him and said we're going to blame barack obama for the closing of the gmc plant and paul ryan didn't say, wait a minute. it closed before barack obama was actually elected president. that was kind of the opening of

his speech. and he said it. but it isn't true. then he went on to say i served on the simpson-bowles commission with him, how disappointed that president obama did embrace it and make more of it. paul ryan on our commission voted against that report, that he's criticizing the president on. two things i couldn't get around. i like paul. he has a good mind. wety disagree on things but those two trouble statements bombered me. >> let me play one clip from last night. >> and the story that barack obama does tell forever shifting blame to the last administration is getting old. the man assumed office almost four years ago. isn't it about time he assumed responsibility? >> is that an effective line of attack by the republicans? we know that david axelrod, i'm

sure this was planned immediately after the speech sent out a fund-raising headline,s if we lose -- it did seem like condi rice and paul ryan fired up that base last night. are you worried? >> let me tell you something. i also sat at listened to condoleezza rice. i was waiting for her to remember whistfully the foreign policy achievements of george w. bush, dick cheney, don rumsfeld. i didn't hear those, because they got to sent, thank god, president obama, a war president obama brought us out of. if that is the underpinning of their foreign policy statement for this election campaign, so be it. let's have that debate. >> i think the underpinning of their domestic argument is exactly what paul ryan just said. that you've had almost four years to fix it. we still have serious economic problems it's time to try something new. is that a winning argument? >> well, i would agree that we should try something new, and that's the obama approach.

the old approach is the one that got us into this mess. it was the george w. bush economic promise to fi which sadly romney and ryan embraced completely. the notion that we can somehow balance the budget and still preserve tax cuts at the highest income levels in america, that we can continue to go forward without cutting any waste that is taking place in the pentagon. i mean, these things are mindless. the simpson-bowles approach was the right approach. put it all on the table, a balanced approach. i voted for it. congressman paul ryan voted against it. >> senator dick durbin, you'll be speaking, i know, at next week's dnc convention in charlotte. we'll be watching. thanks for coming on. appreciate it. >> looking forward to it. thanks. so let's go back to looking ahead to tonight and michael, let me start with you. mitt romney watched paul ryan's speech surrounded by his grandkids and a bunch of pizza boxes and we saw the pictures from there, and we've heard that he's writing this speech himself. we've also heard, it is going to

be very biographical. very personal. but also about big things. what does he have to do tonight and if he does it well, could it be a game-changer? >> well, if he does it well it could be a game-changer, because the big problem he has right now is that i think he hasn't closed the deal in a personal way with -- with american voters. you know, there were new numbers out this morning showing really striking gaps in areas like, does he understand the concerns of people like me? likability. you know, trustworthiness, and i think there is kind of a personal element here where the theory of the case is there for romney. i think a lot of americans are frustrated, fed up with some of obama's policies. they're inclined to kick him out of office, but i don't think he's quite closed the deal where he said i'm a guy who's going to do better. you can like me, trust me. i understand you. those gaps are still quite large. so i think he could change the game by giving a tremendously effective speech that kind of

bridges that trust gap, that kind of fills in some of the doubts people have about him, chris, but i think that's an extraordinarily hard thing to do. i think it's unlikely he'll be able to do it and if someone said i wonder if he is even going to try. my sense is that it's just not something that romney or his advisers think he does effect live and i think they believe they can articulate the case in a little more detail with a little more repetition, that might be enough. i really think the big question that is tonight and the rest of the campaign, which path do they choose? open up romney that could be risky, unsuccessful, because he's not good tat or feel they just keep prosecutes that theoretical case we heard last night from paul ryan's we'll have to wait and see which they choose. >> let me ask you quickly. you started to touch on this, charles. we know the couple of the best republican speechwriters helped paul ryan, but they are saying largely mitt romney is writing this himself. what do you think he can and has to do? >> well, i don't necessarily

believe he's writing it himself, but what he has to do is to figure out a way to get past the likability issue. i don't think that he can convince people to like him, actually. i believe that he has to get people to trust him. and those are two, i think, very different things. if he can get, convince people to say, i actually like the guy in the white house now. there's nothing wrong with barack obama as a person. however, i just want to try something different. if he can win over that fraction of the electorate, i think that his speech succeeds. if he comes out and tries to do the warm and fuzzies, i think it will be a tremendous failure. he cannot pull that off. >> don't try to be something you're not? >> he can 23409 not do it. >> thank you both so much for coming on. >> thank you. no holding back. many of last night's speakers

took nasty jabs at president obama. was that the best way to get the message out? lawrence o'donnell will be with my later on in the hour. my bad. tell me you have good insurance. yup, i've got... [ voice of dennis ] ...allstate. really? i was afraid you'd have some cut-rate policy. [ normal voice ] nope, i've got... [ voice of dennis ] the allstate value plan. it's their most affordable car insurance -- and you still get an allstate agent. i too have... [ voice of dennis ] allstate. [ normal voice ] same agent and everything. it's like we're connected. no we're not. yeah, we are. no...we're not. ♪ ask an allstate agent about the value plan. are you in good hands?

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after bringing more flooding to some areas than katrina, slow moving tropical storm isaac is still slamming louisiana and mississippi. this 340rmorning new evacuatione in effect and president obama declared federal emergencies. dozens trapped in their homes in plaquemines parish had to be rescued. >> i didn't -- i didn't expect for it to be like this. you know? the weather to come up like this. just a little bit of rain squall. >> this was the worst one we've ever had.

worst. let me tell you, wanted to stay in the house, just didn't want to leave. >> joining me, lester holt from nbc. give us an update on the situation and how it's changed over the nast last 24 hours? >> reporter: the people you heard from were rescued from homes under water just the end of the levee. the end of the protection zone that protects new orleans. it did its job. on the other side a town where's a dirt levee not part of the federal protection system was breached or overtopped it flooding those homes. the situation is this. we think we're at the tail end of isaac as far as the new orleans area is concerned. still rain and wind. rain in sheets overnight caused mosh flooding problems outside of new orleans. not only in this area but to the north around lake pontchartrain. some communities there, water began to encroach as the wind pushed it across the lake. slidell, louisiana, these are places now that have been under evacuation during the night.

they brought in buses to take people out. so this has been a very slow-motion disaster. the storm has been agonizingly slow in its progress. it's slowing down in terms of intensity but barely moving. so it dumped so much rain over this area that's compounded the flooding problems. crews are out looking to bring people out and they're going to search this area one more time to make sure everyone's been pulled out of this area in louisiana. back to you. >> lester holt, thank you so much. back to politics now and the obama campaign is using paul ryan's words against him in this new web video out this morning. >> they needed hundreds of billions more so they just took it all away from medicare. $716 billion funneled out of medicare by president obama. >> romney adviser barbara comstock joins me live at convention. good morning. good to see you. >> good morning. good to be with you.

>> the fact checker are all over paul ryan's speech saying it relies on the same $716 billion in medicare savings. is he trying to have it both ways? >> no, not at all and we've been through this long before this speech. what goes on in obamacare is she took the $716 billion from medicare to -- [ inaudible ] by having this 15-person board unelected people who are going to go in and decide what procedures that have already been promised to seniors -- >> that's also a claim that's bumped by the fact checkers? >> it hasn't at all. and the obama campaign has never answered about this 15-person unelected board that is going to go in there and move that money from obamacare to medicare. and the reason -- [ inaudible ] that is -- the facts. a 15-person board has not been dealt with and that's where they

get those cuts from medicare, from seniors who have already been promised that they will have -- you know that money is going to be there for them. they paid into it for years. >> let me ask you about another suggestion, because we had dick durbin on from the other side. he said, look, first of all, paul ryan suggested that barack obama was responsible for the shut down of that gm plant in his hometown. in fact, it was closed under george w. bush's administration. he slammed the president for not doing anything with the simpson-bowles debt commission, but ryan himself voted against the recommendations. let me play a clip from president obama on the campaign trail in virginia yesterday. >> -- pay a little attention to what's happening in tampa this week. don't boo. vote. [ applause ] vote. sometimes they just make things up. >> in fact, you've take an bit of heat on your campaign because your pollster said, we are not

going to let our campaign be dictate the by fact checkers. is the president right jt did paul ryan make things up or at least extend the truth a little bit? >> listen, president obama came to my state, the commonwealth of virginia to tell us we didn't -- let me go that gm plant. let me tell you what the president said when he went to janesville, wisconsin back in 2008. he said, as president i will lead the effort to retool these plants. he went to that plant in february of '08 and october of '08. what he told them, they knew the plant was going to be closing and was having problems. he said, as president, i'm going to lead and i'm going to do this. like so many of the other plants around this country that have closed, that plant closed, and is not open now. there aren't job there's now, because the president has failed. just like he failed to create all the green jobs, where solyndra is empty and the company, fisker, said would have

thousands of job, it's a dustbowl now. this president failed cutting the deficit in half. instead the deficit has grown a trillion dollars every year. it's failed promise after failed promise. so it's laughable for the president to go into the commonwealth of virginia where he's promised to raise our taxes and he's going to cut up to 200,000 of our defense and high-tech jobs, because of his total failure on a budget, and in paul ryan's case, he has a budget and the republicans have a budget that won't cut virginia's defense jobs, and obama has failed and so he goes a college town and starts telling these kids, hey, look at those faded posters of me on your walls in your parents' house, still living in your bedroom with your snoopy bed sheets. this president has failed young people, he has failed to create jobs and we have in mitt romney and paul ryan a turnaround team that is going to get serious and is going to get on the playing field, because they've been on the playing field of creating jobs all of their lives and they have a hopeful message, a

future-oriented message and don't have to look back at the rhetoric from 2008. the reality of the past four years is the president said, if i can't get it done in 3 1/2 year, it's a one-term proposition. that's what i agree with president obama on. let's fact check that one. he hasn't gotten it done and that's why it should be a one-term proposition. >> we should say, just to be balanced here that the president was there talking about his plan to help kids get to college, and to pay their college bills. barbara comstock. >> what about the jobs when they get out? they aren't there. >> thank you so much for being with us. >> because the president has failed. thank you. paul rhine, condoleezza rice, suzana march teen etinez the audiences to their feet. but are they the future? entrepreneur of the week, melanie held a company to more thanes 3ds million until revenue in three years.

but some bad decisions caused sales to plum toit a tenth of that. instead of giving up, melanie got her mba and got what she needed to rebuild her company. for more, watch "your business" sundays at 7:30 a.m. ngahd. g w ed caint ab adi reltsuco llarsunt cao yode bct w owbe u'lesir al s

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because personal service starts with a real person. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our support teams are nearby, ready to help. it's no wonder so many investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade. i'm mitt romney. i believe in america, and i'm running for president of the united states. [ cheers and applause ] >> barack obama has failed america. >> i should also tell my story. i'm also unemployed. >> corporations are people, my friend. >> morning, y'all. i got it right this morning with a biscuit and cheesy grits. i love this state. it seems right here. trees are the right height. >> no one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. >> it's my honor, real honor, and privilege to endorse mitt romney. >> join me in welcoming the next

president of the united states, paul ryan. >> the next vice president of the united states. >> i'm a catholic deer hunter. i am happy to be clinging to my guns and my religion. >> so, mr. president, take your campaign, division and anger and hate back to chicago and let us get on rebuilding and reunites america. >> no one will move heaven and earth like mitt romney to make this country a better place to live. >> mitt romney's political life has led to this moment. tonight speech at the republican national convention, he will accept his party's nomination and reach out to those critical undecided voters, and joining me now to talk about the big speech is former speechwriter for president george w. bush jonathan horn and chief speech writer for president jimmy carter, james fallows.

jonathan, where do you start with a speech this big and with this much sequence? >> well, i think what mitt romney needs to do tonight is to tell a story. he needs to start bysetting the scene where is the country right now? what are the stakes in this election? then he needs to have a negative and positive aspect to the speech. the negative part is why barack obama has failed to meet this moment, and why he won't meet this moment, and i don't think he has to spend a lot of time on that negative story. because so much of it has already been laid by paul ryan last night, and i think you move to the positive story. that's, who is mitt romney? what is mitt romney's vision for leading the country? where will mitt romney take the country? >> you know, i'm wondering, there's been this talk, as you know, james, that he's written much of his speech himself, and i was wondering if that's a little bit like the old adage that says, a lawyer who defends himself has a fool for a client. i mean, do you think he really wrote the speech himself and is that a good idea? >> i guess i wouldn't be

surprised if he did. something for big speech, candidates, presidents tend to do. let me take a little pressure off governor romney. the long historical pattern is, these acceptance speeches by candidates are not usually the thing you remember most about a convention. usually you remember things like the keynote speech, the debut of new figures, the family member speeches. so in a way, the ideal path for gove governor in romney what his wife provided, paul ryan, negative argument and strategy from condoleezza rice. if he could just assume they're already on the record and do his best to tell a story, i think he'll be able to get through there. again, the pressure-reducing factor is while this is a huge stakes speech it's not usually what people remember from conventions. >> when you look at the overall convention, jonathan, candidates usually get a five-point bounce in the polls following their

convention speeches. in 1992 bill clinton saw a 16-point jump and of course went on to win. john kerry saw a drop, 1 point following his speech in 2004. do you they overall that conventions do make a difference, and where do you put the speech in terms of impact? >> well, i think the convention speech certainly make as difference. it's easy for us in washington to forget that most of the country has never heard mitt romney give any speech before. so this is the first time they will ever hear his voice. of course, they've seen ads, and sometimes the conventional wisdom is, mitt romney has a chances to re-introduce himself tonight. i 0 would say he has a chance to introduce him for the very first time to most americans. the bar for success is, do americans see someone who's a credible alternative to barack obama? if you're on the fence, you look at that guy and say, he could be president of the united states. >> how much are you writing, james, for that audience that's there and how important is their reaction as opposed to playing to those undecided voters, that

6%, 8%, 10%, especially in the key battleground states? >> a very important divided task you have to carry out. on one hand good to have a lot of enthusiasm in the hall, that carries over. of course, the main message, as jonathan was saying, people saying, how do they feel about this person as a contender? especially in a re-election run like this a vulnerable incumbent as has happened before because of the economy, namely and people are saying, how do we feel about this alternative? debates are the one way and the convention is the other. >> thanks very much, james and jonathan good to see you both. i want to bring in the msnbc host of "the last word" lawrence o'donnell. good to see you. let me play for you, lawrence, what you saw last night, which is some clips from some of the speeches who dealt out a lot of red meat. here it is. >> good evening, everyone. and welcome to barack obama's retirement party. >> for four years we've drifted away from our proudest

traditions of global leadership. >> those small differences among us in our party approximate the vast differences between the liberty limiting radek's left wing anti-business reckless spending tax hiking party of barack obama. >> with all their attack ads, the president is just throwing away money. and he's pretty experienced at that. >> lawrence, did you think that all was pretty effective and does it relieve mitt romney of that duty as jonathan just suggested, of, you know, being the one going after barack obama and making tonight more biographic, more positive? >> well, chris, there's only one speech that mattered last night and that was the candidate's speech, only one candidate up on the stage, that was paul ryan, and i think paul ryan did his job very, very effectively. i was actually surprised at how effective he was. he haven't seen him in these kinds of environments before. he's never been on that kind of stage before, and his delivery of a very aggressive text was

actually done with, mostly with a preseleasant demeanor with en human elements in there, especially talking about his grandmother on medicare, and his mother now on medicare, the shots of his kids in the box there. i actually had the pleasure of walking in through the hall last night with his two sons, who were being, i thought, at the moment, kind of loosely held by the secret service. i shouldn't have been able to get that close to them. no one should have, but a little messy getting in there, but i think ryan humanized his position very well before getting very, very aggressive. the text is more aggressive than the actual performance of it, i think, but it shows that joe biden has a real competitor here to deal with, and they have no intention on the republican side, absolutely no intention, are getting into the specifics. i heard a lot of talk last night on the democratic side after the fact of saying, wait a minute.

what about the facts? what about the specifics? this is not the section of the campaign that tends to turn on the specifics. remember, every single thing they're saying is to voters who have been reluctant to consume information about the details, and they will not consume information about the details. the people who know and care about the details of what these people are talking about have already made up their minds, and they've made up their minds months ago. some of them years ago. they can't be reached by this rhetoric, but the undecided, low-informed voter, is who they're after, and i think ryan was very effective for them. >> let me ask you about mitt romney's speech tonight. i think in many ways this is the toughest kind of speech for him to deliver, by his own admission and his wife's admission many times over the last few days he's least comfortable talking about himself, sort of exposing his personal life and yet that seems to be the task he's taking on tonight. how does he do it? how do you think he'll do? >> you know, i think if the expectation is for romney to get

out there and be more personal and be more likable and tell stories about his life, that will twhooshg way, i'll be very surprised if he's able to do that, because ann romney managed to get through an entire -- an entire biography of mitt romney without a single anecdote. howard feinman made this point the other night. the most important observation after that speech. there wasn't one anecdote. paul ryan's speech did have that. he had stories specific stories about his mother. another story about his grandmother. he had a reference to his father that was, and his father's early death. all real, all sufficient people were understand and connect with. ann romney did not tell a single story about the day her husband did x with one of their children. or with someone else. so now if there are going to be any of those story, they're going to have to come from mitt romney, and it's a little built more awkward trying to tell

those stories in the first person, and he obviously has never been able to do it. so we'll see what happens. >> we'll look for the stories tonight. lawrence o'donnell, host of msnbc's "the last word" always great to see you thank you. >> thanks, chris. also making thuz this morning, five australian soldiers have been killed in afghanistan in just of the past 24 hours. three of them by a man wearing an afghan army uniform. two others died in a helicopter crash. 14 nato troops have now been killed by their afghan colleagues this month. hurricane isaac is causing gas prices to jump up 11 cents in a week. just yesterday the price rose almost 5 cents nationwide, but look at this in ohio. it was up 14 cents. in indiana, 13 cents. in illinois, 10 cents. and something new is cooking at campbell's soup. cnbc's mandy drury with what's moving your money. andy warhol is back. >> he is indeed. the world's biggest soupmaker plans to introduce special

edition kansas of its condensed soup reminiscent of andy warhol's paintings. available at target starting on sunday at a cost of 75 cents each. obviously, much less than the original. the irony here, chris, is that campbell's knee-jerk reaction back in the 1960s was it was considering taking legal action against warhol until, of course, in 1964, campbell's soup realized that these paintings were a huge phenomenon and warhol was a massive hit and embraced it and even sent warhol a thank you letter and a couple of cases of their tomato soup. it's a great story. >> it is a great story. cnbc's mandy drury, thank you. >> thank you. and still ahead, congressman todd akin going on the attack. we'll be right back. anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'.

to politics now, the first lady sat down with david letterman and they chatted her our summer, sending sasha and

malia to camp and about her favorite game as a kid. >> a great game we made up called chase. pretty simple. the girls chase the boys, and then the boys chase the girls and we could play that for, like, the entire day. >> yeah. >> you know? i mean, literally. >> sarah palin took to her facebook to complain yesterday. i'm sorry fox cancelled all my scheduled interviews tonight. the former gop vice presidential nominee said she wanted to talk about her former running mate, senator john mccain. during mccain's speech, hundreds of ron paul supporters walked out. they're angry half of ron paul's delegates from maine weren't seated. and congressman todd akin won't go away. now he's going on the attack in his senate race in missouri. check out these two new ads. >> my six-second mistake is well known, but claire mccaskill's six-year record is something you should know. >> the real issue is not what he

said it's what claire mccaskill did. >> claire mccaskill was the deciding vote for obamacare. >> mccaskill's campaign responded saying none of the spin will change the fact thatted to akin is too far out of the mainstream. well, it wasn't all about paw ryan last night. other rising stars in the spotlight, senator rand paul, senator martinez, praising mitt romney and maybe paving the way for their own future runs. >> growing up i never imagined a little girl from a border town could one day become a governor. but this is america. [ speaking in spanish ] >> i'm joined now by iowa governor terry branstad. good to see you, governor. good morning. >> good morning. great to be with you. >> martinez and paul both got elected with help from the tea party, marco rubio is speaking

tonight. is this the new face of the republican party, and is it more conservative? >> well, i'll tell you, we've got a lot of talented new people. especially in the governorships, and these governors have been reducing spending in their states and focusing on jobs, reducing the tax and regulatory burden and we're seeing states govern pd by republicans are growing and compare that to illinois where obama's friends are in control and they're raising taxes and driving business and jobs out. they have -- they actually have the highest debt per capita in the nation in illinois and they also have the most unfunded liability in their public pension system, and so it's really a choice of leadership. and are you willing to make the tough decisions and cut spending like chris christie's done in new jersey, like governor, republican governors are doing across the country or do you want to do like illinois's done and continue politics as usual, borrowing and spending, and it's a recipe for disaster that's --

much of the country is -- >> as people are looking at this convention, governor, it's really a choice between the republicans angd the democrats, between mitt romney, who a adopted many of the budget proposals of paul ryan, which is there is a concern. i mean, you've heard it voiced by other republicans, it will be viewed by important moderate voters as too draconian. i ask that question again, in the context of this election, the new face of the republican party, this conservatism, does it hurt you? i mean, has it gone too far to get mitt romney elected? >> well, first and foremost, the nation is $16 trillion in debt. 40 cents of every federal dollar spent is borrowed money. people know that this is unsustainable and, you know, affordable, and then they look at what's happened where republican governors were elected in 2009 and '10 and what they've done for their states' budgets. cutting the size and cost of government and focusing on reducing the tax and regulatory burdens to free up the private

sector to invest and create jobs. that's what we need in america. we need a president that has that same kind of philosophy and we've got to get this federal deficit under control. we don't have the four mores ye -- more years. we have to make the decision and have the courage to tell people the truth. >> somebody who is not at new face there last night. that's condoleezza rice. let me play what many people think is the key moment from her speech. >> the challenge is real, and the times are hard, but america has met and overcome hard challenges before. on a personal note, a little girl grows up in jim crow birmingham. the segregated city of the south where her parents can't take her to a movie theater or to a restaurant, but they have her absolutely convinced that even if she can't have a hamburger at the woolworth's counter, she could be president of the united states if she wanted to be and

she becomes the secretary of state. >> she had said she didn't want to be vice president, although there were many reports she was on the short list. is she someone who could be on a romney administrations in a romney administration if there is one? >> absolutely. she's a real trent and what courage she's got and what an intelligent woman. she tells it like it is. she's the kind of leadership we need. i think she'd be a great part of a romney administration, especially in the foreign policy area where she hall so much knowledge and expertise. i thought she did an outstanding job, and she just is an example of a lot of the talented people that romney will put in his administration. >> governor terry branstad, thanks so much. >> thank you. two tweets today. ann romney told "entertainment tonight" is her favorite show. thrilled ann romney says modfamiliar is her favorite

show. we'll op-of-offer herp the role of oh fish yant at mitch & cam's wedding as soon as it's legal. i'm thrilled mitt and ann romney's love for "modern family." i hope it sparks something in them. equality. very room deserves to look great. and every footstep should tell us we made the right decision. so when we can feel our way through the newest, softest, and most colorful options... ...across every possible price range... ...our budgets won't be picking the style. we will. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get labor day savings with up to 24 months special financing with your home depot credit card. r

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president obama tried to pull attention away from the gop convention and he used social media to do it. in a surprise, ask me anything " session. he spent about a half hour answering questions. watching social media and i guess the president was very biddy online yesterday? >> he was. typing furiously, not taking anything sitting down there. up until last night, paul ryan had mixed reviews when it comes to social media posts. looking into that and using crimson hexagon. a value with facebook and twitter comments on ryan since

pick and august 10th. on august 11th, date after he was elected peaked with a positive sentiment rating according to the analysis. since then dropped from 45% 2049 perce2049 -- 49%. one therpd of the comments so far run support for the $700 billion bank bailout. libertarian broadcaster with 15,000 followers tweeted, paul ryan voted for t.a.r.p., auto bailouts, medicare expansions, nclb, the 2008 and 2009 stimulus, sounds perfect for mitt romney. end quote. and negative sentiments a bit different. revolving around gaffes and a drag on the ticket. in addition, nbc news alex johnson who writes on social media tweets that analysis found that "catholics criticized biden for social justice catholic positions." comments like these spiked twitter volume. who's hot now? it's ryan.

by ratio of 12-1. next week, when it's the democrats' turn, the ballots will change moop got the most twitter lurch from last night's speeches? we'll talk about that. >> thank you so much, richard. that wraps up this hour of "jansing and co." i'm chris jansing. thomas roberts is up next. can mitt romney elk tra phi the electorate? weighing in on this, our political powerhouse, and cindy mccain joining me for observations of the rnc. this convention billed at the most diverse for the republican side. did you hear about homeo com? i didn homocom jp i didn't think so. and serious note assessing, isaac battered states, nearly 1 million you without power. rescues continue in areas in the

surge. we'll hear from all of our correspondents in the reach and melissa joins me in the next hour. stick around. ugh allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. who learned to fly. not with wings or jetpack. but with her new dell laptop and a little ingenuity too. ♪ her fast processor made for a smooth take off. ♪ she could soar clear across the sky on her hd screen...and beyond. [ female announcer ] inspiron 15r with intel core i3 processor from $499 on dell.com with free shipping. ♪

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